Social-media camp tunes into the digital consumer

5 Nov 2009

Having read the term “social media” repeatedly, many of us will admit that the words have lost their meaning before we even found any, so it is interesting to see online PR firm Simply Zesty is soon running a “winter camp” event in Dublin with plain-talking, no-nonsense experts like Pat Phelan getting straight to the point: the medium has changed, the audience has changed. How do businesses change with this?

This winter camp social-media event is aimed at any businesses looking for a bigger-picture overview of the future of digital with individual speakers honing in on the future of mobile, branding and social media itself. Senior staff from Facebook and Google will give talks, and reveal where they see the connected crowd and its changing behaviour taking the modern business model.

A couple of speakers

Pat Phelan, founder and CEO of Cubic Telecom, the company behind the MAXroam SIM card and voice-to-text Twitter service Twitterfone, will be giving his views on the future of mobile. Phelan knows firsthand through MAXroams’ pastsuccessesthis year that the telecoms industry is undergoing rapid changes with mobility and the web driving this forward.

James Whatley, a veteran on the social-media scene, will be talking about its future, how companies are continuing to and have been engaging with the online audience, and the impact of word-of-mouth marketing on brand building.

Whatley is director of engagement strategy for WOM (word-of-mouth) agency, 1000heads, and has worked for Spinvox and Lucozade in a similar capacity.

Brands of the future will be discussed by Paul Walsh, serial entrepreneur and founder of accessibility and website certification testing firm Segala, who recently took on a role as senior adviser for VC connector firm Angels Den.

When and where

The Simply Zesty Winter Camp is taking place on 2 December at the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin, with a ticket price of €99 per person and will run 1pm-6pm.

The first 10 Siliconrepublic.com readers to email info@siliconrepublic.com with the subject line ‘Simply Zesty Winter Camp’ (including their name and contact details) will be eligible for half-price tickets to the event.